1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to guided missiles and particularly to missiles deployed from an aircraft for attacking ground-based targets remote from the aircraft. This type of missile is sometimes referred to as a stand-off weapon.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
A known missile suitable for deployment as mentioned above has a modular construction incorporating a central payload bay to which other necessary parts of the missile such as nose cone, hardback assembly and engine, are attached.
The roles that a stand-off weapon has to play are various and diverse depending on the target in question, i.e., different targets require different payloads. Hence the missile having a central payload is restricted in its versatility; a complete missile must be purpose-built for the particular role to be fulfilled.